5 Surprising Podcasts for Finding Calm

Just the act of popping in headphones can be calming. It’s a signal to yourself and the people around you that you are entering your own world. Now, with the proliferation of podcasts, there are endless options for making information the peace-keeping music in your ears. Here are five podcasts that will help you block out stress and take in calm.

“…there are endless options for making information
the peace-keeping music in your ears.”

How to Do EverythingFeeling ill-equipped to handle life’s various conundrums is stressful. How to Do Everything, a podcast that answers listener questions about confounding situations, can help ease your mind. Hosts Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag tackle everything from how to deal with annoying co-workers to how to find the best seats on airplanes, in amusing 20-minute episodes.

Happier with Gretchen RubinOn the path to finding happiness, some audio accompaniment can help liven things up. The author of Better Than Before and The Happiness Project shares practical, doable advice on cultivating happiness and good habits in her entertaining but solution-oriented podcasts Happier with Gretchen Rubin. The full 30-minute episodes are interspersed with “Little” 1–2 minute episodes, if you’re into short bursts of happy.

Modern LoveModern Love, a spinoff from theNew York Times column of the same name, is a break from practical advice and a dive into empathy. Well-known personalities perform readings of “Modern Love” columns; then the original authors provide updates on their stories. Host Meghna Chakrabarti guides 20-minute episodes on romantic, familial and self-love that will leave you feeling compassionate and understood.

Death, Sex & MoneyIt can be alienating to have something on your mind that no one is willing to talk about. Rest assured, Death, Sex & Money host Anna Sale will go there with you in her podcast, which she describes as a show about “the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.” In 20- to 30-minute episodes, Sale tackles life’s big questions and hard choices through intimate interviews with notable and everyday people.

Sleep with MeDo you have trouble falling asleep? Try calming your mind with some boring bedtime stories by Drew Ackerman, the host of the popular podcast Sleep with Me. Episodes are over an hour, but you probably won’t make it to the end. Ackerman’s inventive and at times bizarre tales are intentionally told without excitation or inflection, helping to drain your brain of stimulation so that you can drift off to sleep.